Yahoo Web Search

Search results

1. Dictionary

   necessity

   /nɪˈsɛsɪti/

   noun

   • 1. the state or fact of being required: "the necessity of providing parental guidance" Similar essential requirementprerequisiteindispensable thing/itemessentialrequisitenecessaryfundamentalbasicsine qua nondesideratum
   • ▪ the state of being unavoidable: "the necessity of growing old" Similar inevitabilityunavoidabilitycertaintyinescapabilityinexorabilityineluctability
   • ▪ a situation enforcing a certain course of action: "political necessity induced him to consider it" Similar force/pressure of circumstanceneedobligationcallexigencycrisisemergencyurgencyforce majeure
   • 2. an indispensable thing: "a good book is a necessity when travelling" Similar essential requirementprerequisiteindispensable thing/itemessentialrequisitenecessaryfundamentalbasicsine qua nondesideratum
   • 3. the principle according to which something must be so, by virtue either of logic or of natural law.
   • ▪ a condition that cannot be otherwise, or a statement asserting this.

   Word Origin late Middle English: from Old French necessite, from Latin necessitas, from necesse‘be needful’.

   Scrabble Points: 14

   • N

     1

   • E

     1

   • C

     3

   • E

     1

   • S

     1

   • S

     1

   • I

     1

   • T

     1

   • Y

     4

   Powered by Oxford Dictionaries

   More definitions, origin and scrabble points